Sandman's Silence
by MuffinHTF
Summary: No one seems have ever heard the Guardian of Dreams utter a word. But when Sandy finally speaks up to save his friends from danger, it's soon discovered that his silence was for a good reason. Now Sandy must struggle to fix what he's done in order to save his Guardian friends and himself from not being believed in anymore.


**AN: My first RoTG fanfiction! Featuring my favorite character, Sandy. Enjoy!**

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The Christmas holidays were upon the world and the wondrous cheer could not have been more profound as the great Nicolas St. North strode gallantly through his famous workshop, throwing well-mannered yet hearty orders to the hardworking yetis and somewhat scatterbrained elves as his wizened eyes scanned twice over a list of those who had been naughty and those who had been nice.

It was only a few weeks until Christmas and children everywhere would soon be filled with so much joy, wonder, and happiness that the enormous Globe would shine with the intensity of a thousand stars. St. North was determined for this to be the greatest Christmas yet, to make up for the previous Easter which had been ruined by Pitch Black's plan to engulf the world in fear and darkness.

Of course, in light of the holiday hustle and bustle, the other Guardians agreed full heartedly to give whatever help they could offer, as they were also determined to completely revive the wonder in the children's hearts. Even Bunny was in agreement that this Christmas had to top any other holiday this year if they wanted to the get the Globe back to its former glory. The Easter Bunny was bounding across the lower levels of the work shop, carrying needed supplies from his tunnels and assisting yetis with storing the finished toys.

Toothiana was zipping across the upper floors of the large workshop, giving a mix mash of orders to her rainbow colored fairies and managing lists of needed and completed toys. The tiny fairies zoomed to a fro, nimbly dodging the husky yetis and taking count of toys, all at the same time collecting memory filled teeth and delivering quarters.

Jack Frost was even giving his fair share of effort, while still squeezing as much fun out of it as he could of course. The newest Guardian was helping in the creation of toys by painting the occasional truck or doll house, and giving the yetis tips on how to make sleds glide more smoothly down an icy hill. Yet, every once in a while, he'd treat himself to a little mischievousness by tripping or freezing an elf or two or even adding his own little tweaks to the completed toys, much to the displeasure of the yetis.

Sandy at the moment was assisting several yetis by lifting a large pile of completed, very heavy doll houses with a humongous sand cloud. Magical dream sand poured out of the Guardian's fingertips as several vines of gold dust secured the tiny houses to the immense cloud. Several symbols of confusion appeared above his golden colored hair as he attempted to understand the yetis' grunts and grumbles of explanation as where to put the doll houses.

"Hah…I tell ya what, mate. I 'aven't worked this hard since Easter Sunday '54." Bunnymund mumbled in his thick Aussie accent as he stopped between tunnels to catch his breath. His knees nearly buckled beneath him as North clapped him heartily on the shoulder.

"Yes! It is great work you are doing by helping me, Bunny!" North's massive figure shook with a grateful laugh, "Thanks to you, I can use Snowglobes to deliver toys on Christmas instead of getting supplies!"

"Yeah yeah, I just hope you're gonna return the favor come next Easter." Bunnymund grinned, standing up straighter at North's compliment and glowing with pride.

"Of course, of course! What is more fun than painting the boiled eggs, yes?" North chuckled warmly, spreading his arms.

"Yep, nothing I'd rather be doing than sitting in a grassy hole and painting pretty little eggs." Jack grinned mischievously as he floated down to the two Guardians, landing nimbly on his bent staff.

"Bug off, Frostbite! At least I'm haulin' my weight! All you've been doin' is freezing elves and eating all the cookies! " Bunny huffing irritably, sparking one of his and Jack's famous bickering sessions. St. North rolled his eyes, knowing full well that those two wouldn't quit until they were both good and furious with each other, which could take a while. Noticing a yeti painting toy trains the wrong color, the husky Santa Clause strode off, shouting the correct hue of green at the disgruntled beast.

"What? Hey, I've been making and painting toys nonstop! What've you been doing? Fetching North's dry cleaning?" Jack smirked.

"Why I 'oughta…Your 'toys' are bodgy compared to those yetis! I'll lay an egg before any kid wants one of 'em!"

Up on the mid-floor, Sandy's full concentration was on controlling the large cloud of sand that swirled around yet another pile of heavy toys. The yeti's scattered arm movements and frantic grunts did nothing to help the Sandman understand which direction they wanted the cloud the move.

Huffing out a small poof of sand in annoyance, the Guardian's ears picked up a strange groaning noise. Brushing off the noise as a yeti, Sandy added another sand-vine to the cloud, securing a toy train that had nearly fallen off. However, the noise sounded again, this time much louder, and quite distinguishable from a yeti. Sandy allowed his concentration to falter for a moment as he looked around, curious as to what the noise could possibly be. The yetis, annoyed at the Guardian's wandering gaze, attempted to regain his attention with more grunts and grumbles.

Sandy's eyes trailed the noise to the high up ceiling, where a large wooden toy boat was secured by many sturdy ropes to a thick wooden beam. However, one of Jack's frost-enchanted toy airplanes had malfunctioned and flown up to the ceiling, propelled by magic snow, rather than staying put in the finished toy piles like it was supposed to. The miniature aircraft was butting against the support beam and with each hit, the slab of wood became incased with another thin layer of ice and causing it to groan under the stress. Sandy's stomach tied in a knot as he realized the beam would snap soon with all that ice weighing it down, and a wooden boat that size could do massive damage if it landed in the right spot.

Peering over his shoulder and down at the ground level floor, his heart dropped to his feet when he saw Jack and Bunnymund standing directly below the great toy boat, bickering away without the slightest clue that they were about to be crushed to bits. Symbols of alarm and panic sprung up all around Sandman's head and he looked around frantically for a solution. He couldn't lose his concentration on the cloud, or all the toys would come crashing down on the yetis and he wasn't sure he had enough dream sand with him to create another cloud to stop the falling boat.

Looking up at the top floor, Sandy attempted to get Toothiana's attention but the Fairy was too focused on her work too notice the pudgy little Guardian and his silent shapes of sand. Looking upwards still, he noticed that the door to North's office was shut and locked tight, and Nicolas was most likely inside, checking over his lists yet again. Trying to get the attention of the yetis proved to be a difficult task when he realized they were still trying to guide the cloud of toys and paid little to no attention to the panicked little man.

Glancing up at the beam again, there was a dangerous dip, in the beam's structure, giving it the appearance of an upside-down wooden rainbow. The large toy ship rocked back and forth slightly, hanging precariously above the two Guardians below. Sandy realized he might not be able to set the cloud down safely in time to warn the two of the incoming disaster. Yet Jack and Bunny were so immersed in their bickering that they were completely oblivious to what was happening above them. Even Bunny's keen ears weren't picking up the groaning of the beam.

Sandy gasped silently as the groaning suddenly turned into the horrifying sound of splintering wood. Panicking at the inevitable destruction of his friends, one final solution popped into his mind. Leaning as far over the edge of the railing as he could without breaking his focus on the sand cloud, the Guardian opened his mouth wide and he shouted as loud as his voice would let him.

"_BUNNYMUND!_"

His voice was deep and raspy from disuse but it was enough to get the Guardian's attention. Bunny's ears snapped up and his body twisted around in surprise at the unfamiliar voice. Looking up, he noticed Sandy with a horrified look on his face with several sand arrows pointing frantically to the ceiling. Bunnymund's gaze shot skyward just in time to see the massive beam snap in two, disconnecting the ropes and sending the large ship hurdling earthward. With lightning fast reaction, Bunny sprang forward and tackled Jack Frost around the waist, hurdling them both just out of harm's way as the boat smashed against the hard tile floor, sending splinters of wood in every direction. It took Sandy nearly every bit of concentration he had to keep a hold on his sand cloud. Up high, Toothiana flinched horribly out of her focus at the crash before zooming down to see the damage.

"_GASP!_ Jack! Bunny! A-Are you alright?!" Tooth cried as she zipped past what used to be a lovely wooden decoration and pried a few large splinters of wood off the two Guardians. Bunny opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted as the door to North's office burst open, and a panic-stricken looking Nicolas gripped the railing as he hung nearly halfway over the edge.

"What in world just-!" North's sentence hung in the air when he saw the destroyed boat and the two frazzled Guardians just beyond its circle of destruction. Leaping over the edge, Clause landing with a large _thud_ beside Tooth.

The entire workshop was silent. Half the room was staring in shock at the two Guardians who nearly missed their untimely fate, while the other half was starting at the Sandman, who had never been known to speak until a few seconds ago.

"Jack, what happened?" North eventually asked, running his fingers through his hair in disbelief at the state of his workshop.

"I-I don't know! The ship jus-"

"The beam snapped, mate!" Bunny interrupted, suddenly regaining his senses. The Sandman floated down gently beside them, having finally been able to set the cloud of toys down slowly and safely.

"A-And Sandy! He just…Well he shouted a warnin' at us!" Bunny exclaimed.

"He…_shouted _the warning?" Tooth repeated softly, as if the sentence didn't make sense in her mind. North turned to Sandy, who in return gave a sheepish shrug and grinned.

Suddenly, St. North burst out laughing with relief, "AHAHA! Well thank the Moon that Sandy actually has voice! Or the elves would be sweeping Bunny and Jack off floor! AHAHAHAHA!" The burly man plucked Jack and Bunnymund off the ground and set them on their feet.

"I didn't even know you _could_ talk, Sandy." Jack scratched his head in slight confusion, "I just always assumed you were mute or something."

Sandy shrugged again, giving another sheepish smile and rubbing his arm awkwardly. He couldn't even remember the last time he had spoken, he'd just never felt the need to. He acted in the spur of the moment in fear that two of his greatest friends were about to perish, what else could he have done?

The afternoon continued on with little work other than the yetis sweeping up what remained of the decorative boat. Much praise from North to Sandy was shouted heartily for many hours with lots of "Sandy you should speak up more often if it'd get Bunny and Jack out of all the trouble they get in! AHAHAHA!"

Tooth was still racked with panic and guilt, even though Jack Frost and Bunnymund were out of harm's way, she kept insisting that if only she'd been paying attention, she could have helped Sandy warn them. Of course, Bunny was boasting proudly about his quick reaction in the situation while Jack had managed to brush off the whole situation as nothing but a little accident, although he was grateful that Sandy had yet to rat him out about the toy airplane.

As evening approached, Sandy departed from the North Pole to make his rounds delivering sweet dreams to children. However, ever since he had spoken, a dull knot of dread that settled at the bottom of his stomach. He hadn't spoken since he became the Sandman. And even though it was such a small issue to his Guardian friends, if not a pleasant surprise that he had a voice, Sandy couldn't help but feel it was a mistake to have spoken up.

But it was an emergency; surely he shouldn't feel guilty about saying one word if it meant saving his friends?

Even so, as Sandy swept across the countryside, preparing to send streams of dreams to the sleeping children of the world, the awful feeling that something bad was about to happen stuck in the back of his mind.

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**AN: I've never read the RoTG books before, so if Sandy's silence is actually explained in the books, I'm sorry. w**

**Anywho, I hoped you enjoyed this chapter! Reviews are greatly appreciated! **


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